Veðirankĭ
= Setting Vethirankii is a Germano-Slavic based language with influences from Latvian, Polish, Czech, Estonian, English, Icelandic, and German. There's no story to it, accept it's just an idea I came up with some years ago, and thought I might be able to make it reality by organizing everything online. Phonology The alphabet is as follows: Phonotactics 1. Any consonant can precede or succeed any vowel. 2. All consonant clusters cannot exceed 2 phonemes, affricates count as one sound. 3. All vowels with a breve (˘) are long. 4. A word may not end with Ll or Z but may end with the digraph Kz. 5. A word may not begin with Ǣ. 6. ' represents a glottal stop. Pronunciation Rules 1. All vowels are pronounced as separate phonemes when clustered, as in Spanish. 2. The letter Z is prounounced /θ/ before or after i or e, /z/ before or after a or o and consonants, and /ð/ before or after u, this also applies to the variations of the vowels with breves. 3. Y is pronounced as as the approximant /j/ before or after a vowel, and as the vowel /iː/ before or after a consonant. 4. V and W are pronounced as /w/ before i or e, and /v/ before a,o,u, or the vowel-pronounced Y. 5. The "Wt" diagraph, after "L" is pronounced /ɧ/. 6. Other than that, the language is pronounced according to the phonemes listed with the alphabet. 7. When there is a three-consonant onset, a schwa vowel is added before the last consonant of the cluster so it doesn't overstep the two-consonant onset rule. 8. There are some digraphs, though: Basic Grammar The grammar of Vethirankii is very similar to most other Balto-Slavic languages. One difference is that it doesn't decline nouns into gender by animacy or personhood, only gender: Vethirankii contains seven cases for which to decline nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and particles: 1. Nominative 2. Genitive 3. Dative 4. Accusative 5. Instrumental 6. Locative 7. Vocative It also contains 3 degrees of comparison: Positive Comparitave Superlative It contains 2 aspects: Perfective Continuous 3 Genders: Masculine Feminine Neuter 2 Numbers: Singular Plural 4 Tenses: Future Present Past Past Iterative 4 Moods: Conditional Imperative Interrogative Optative and 2 Voices: Active Passive Declension Nouns Nouns are declined in the following ways with two cases. In the instrumental case, the noun's suffix is equal to the English "with" or "by" or "using." In the locative case, the noun's prefix corresponds to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". So, "Kputnjeka es Plut" means "The student is on the table", literally "Student is table" but the prefix "K" acts as the preposition "on". Depending on how the word is used, it can correspond to any of the above-stated English prepositions. Now, the neuter table is in the Nominative, because it is being stood on, therefore, doing something, and so is the student, because she is doing something by standing on the table. So this noun has two cases it is declined to. The vocative case is not declined by an affix as in, say, Polish, but as in English where the vocative expression is adressed in the sentence. "Brutes, un tĭ?", which literally means "Brutus, even you?". In most English cases the vocative phrase is in a sentence this way: "Even you, Brutus", but in Vethirankii it's just the opposite. To make a noun plural, add "ci" to the end, gender inflection will come after the "ci". Posessives are defined under the accusative case, how you inflect posession depends on the gender. All nouns are capitalized, in proper nouns, and uncapitalized "b" is added to the beginning of the noun. The letter after the "b", unless a vowel, is elided. Verbs Verbs are declined into four tenses Future, Present, Past, Past Participle. Verbs never take the infinitive form in a sentence. So you can never say "They are to run," as one would say when speaking in an imperative mood, it would just take the regular form "They will run," "Ver njitu". So, "I will go" is "Mi gengu," also "I will have left" is "Mi luku mjukztu," the word "lukz" takes the suffix "u" because the helping verb "mjukztu" is in the future tense. In Vethirankii the helping verb comes after the main verb. The conjugation of the verb "Jeka (To be)" in the present: Mi jekz - I am Tĭ jukz - You are Anu/Anjh/An jukz - He/she/it is Mis jukz - We are Tu jukz - You are (plural) On/Onj* jukz - They are (masc./fem.) The conjugation of "Jeka (To be)" in the past: Mi jedh - I was Tĭ jedh - You were Anu/Anjh/An jedh- He/She/It was Mis jedh - We were Tu jedh - You were (plural) On/Onj* jedh - They were (masculine/feminine) *If you are talking about two or more neuter objects doing somthing, the neuter takes the masculine gender by adding the case-appropriate affix. The conjugation of "Jeka (To be)" in the past participle: Mi jewt - I have been Tĭ jewt - You have been Anu/Anjh/An jewt - He/She/It has been Mis jewt - We have been Tu jewt - You have been (plural) On/Onj jewt - They have been The conjugation of "Jeka (To be)" in the future: Mi jeku - I will be Tĭ jeku - You will be Anu/Anjh/An jeku - He/She/It will be Mis jeku - We will be Tu jeku - You will be (plural) On/Onj jeku - They will be The conjugation of the verb "Sima (To have)" in the present: Mi simz - I have Tĭ simz - You have Anu/Anjh/An simt - He/she/it has Mis simz - We have Tu simz - You have (plural) On/Onj simz - They have The conjugation of the verb "Sima (To have)" in the past: Mi sidh - I had Tĭ sidh - You had Anu/Anjh/An sidh - He/She/It had Mis sidh - We have Tu sidh - You have (plural) On/Onj sidh - They have The conjugation of the verb "Sima (To have)" in the past participle: Mi siwt - I have had Tĭ siwt - You have had Anu/Anjh/An siwt - He/She/It has had Mis siwt - We have had Tu siwt - You have had (plural) On/Onj siwt - They have had The conjugation of the verb "Sima (To have)" in the future: Mi simu - I will have Tĭ simu - You will have Anu/Anjh/An simu - He/She/It will have Mis simu - We will have Tu simu - You will have (plural) On/Onj simu - They will have The conjugation of the verb "Genga (To go) in the present: Mi gengz - I go Tĭ genz - You go Anu/Anjh/An genz - He/She/It goes Mis genz - We go Tu genz - You go (Plural) On/Onj genz - They go The conjugation of the verb "Genga (To go) in the past: Mi gedh - I went Tĭ gedh - You went Anu/Anjh/An gedh - He/She/It went: Mis gedh - We went Tu gedh - You went (plural) On/Onj gedh - They went The conjugation of the verb "Genga (To go) in the past participle: Mi gewt - I have gone Tĭ gewt - You have gone An/Anjh/An gewt - He/She/It has gone Mis gewt - We have gone Tu gewt - You have gone (plural) On/Onj gewt - They have gone The conjugation of the verb "Genga (To go) in the future: Mi gengu - I will go Tĭ gengu - You will go An/Anjh/An gengu - He/She/It will go Mis gengu - We will go Tu gengu - You will go On/Onj gengu - They will go Verbs do not relate to the agent it is describing as far as case goes. So if a pronoun is in the feminine singular, the verb will not be feminine singular. Verb mood There are 4 moods to verbs. These moods can tell whether a person is yelling a sentence or simply saying it. Verbs are conjugated according to mood. If the sentence is in the imperative mood, the verb is conjugated according to mood and tense and the noun or pronoun will come after the verb, for example: "Tu jutzu gengu."- "You should go." would be: "Genguest tu."- "Go you." Conjugation of mood will always come after conjugation for tense. The rules for conjugating according to the 4 moods are as follows: 1. For the conditional mood add "-ist" 2. For the imperative mood add "-est" 3. For the interrogative mood add "ust" 4. For the optative mood add "ast" I will describe as best I can the functions of these moods. Conditional Mood- This mood refers to a hypothetical state of affairs. (courtesy: Wikipedia- Conditional Mood) "I would have gone to the store but I fell asleep." Imperative Mood- This mood expresses direct commands or requests. (Courtesy: Wikipedia- Imperative Mood) "Go to the store." Interrogative Mood- This mood makes the sentence ask a question "Can you go to the store?" Optative Mood- Is a mood in Ancient Greek used to express wishes, I thought it would be fun to have a mood just for that. "If only I would have gone to the store." Change in State A change in state corresponds to the English affixes "un-" and "re-" as in "undo (to make not done)", and "redo (to do again). In Vethirankii, there are no affixes, just adverbs to describe what change in state the noun has gone through. These adverbs come before the verb. Here are some examples of conjugation nella ---> ḡopetlyḫ nella lit. "againly do" - "redo" Pronouns Pronouns come before the verb, as in English. Pronouns are split into two groups: definite and indefinite. The following are all the pronouns in their various forms. Definite Singular Mi - I Tĭ - You Anu - He Anjh - She An - It Definite Plural Mis - We Tu - You (Plural) On - They (Masculine) Onj - They (Feminine) There is no neuter form of "On" that would correspond with "An". so, when you are talking about a group of neuter pronouns doing something you use the masculine. Indefinite Singular There are as many of these as in English, in other words, quite a few: *another – Buska *anybody – Visjak *anyone – Kukp *anything – Kokalŭ *each – Vusk *either – Nju *enough – Itab *everybody - Hurks *everyone - Hurks *everything - Soinj *less – .''Menus *little – Menus *much – Gruss *neither – Nă *no one – Niḫnjks *nobody – Niḫnjks *nothing – Njeks *one – Un *other – Oder *plenty – Mas *somebody – Kuzku *someone – Kuzku *something – Kazka *what – Koku *whatever – Kokulwik *whoever – Kokulwt *which - Kaz *whichever – Kazdi Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstrative pronouns put emphasis on a certain noun. This - Ach That - Nu These - Ăch Those - Nŭ Yonder - Jonder Possessive Pronouns For the most part an "n" is added to the end of a pronoun to make possessive, as follows: Mi ---> Min - My Tĭ ---> Tin - Your Anu ---> Anun - Her Anjh ---> Anjhen - His An ---> Anen - Its Mis ---> Misen - Our Tu ---> Tun - Your (Plural) On ---> Onn - Their (Fem.) Onj ---> Onjen - Their (Masc.) When a pronoun ends with a consonant "-en" is added Dummy Pronouns Dummy pronouns are pronouns that refer to no subject. Vethirankii is a pro-drop language, in that when a dummy pronoun occurs, it is dropped from the sentence: "Jukz ciez" --- literally "Is raining", notice how "An" is dropped, as it is the dummy pronoun of the sentence. Adjectives Attributive adjectives and adjective cases Adjectives come after the nouns they describe. There is a certain order to attributive adjectives that is as follows: 1. Article or possessive pronoun 2. Modified noun and modifier(s) 3. Color 4. Age 5. Shape 6. Size 7. Quality 8. Proper adjective (Nationality or other place of origin) Example: Min huna syna starĭa umferða fetura keljua Amrikanska (lit. My dog blue old round fat nice American) (My nice, fat, old, round, blue, American dog) Notice all adjectives are in the genitive case because the pronoun is a possessive one, the pronoun is not made genitive because it is already possessive. What follows is the declension of adjectives to the three genders and various cases of Vethirankii: Adjectives take on the exact same cases as the noun or pronoun it describes. Absolute Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction. English has this in the following sentence "She was happy with the dog" Happy doesn't describe either of the two nouns, therefore it is absolute. In this Vethirankii sentence, it works the same way: "Anjh lumig mun i Hunjt." Notice how Vethirankii has no dative case to inflect the object, so as in English, "i (the)", is used. Proper Proper adjectives describe a noun's religion, place of origin, organization, etc. Proper adjectives derive from the root noun, as in English. The rules are as follows Numerative Adjectives Numerative adjectives are numbers. 1-10 are as follows: Ain Tvir Ðrir Fer Fife Sech Sjŏ Wosem Diwat Shi Higher numbers are created like this: 11 - Shi'ain (10+1) 20 - Tvir'shi (2x10) 21 - Tvir'shi'ain (2x10+1) 100 - Shi'shi (10x10) 101 - Shi'shi'ain 1,000 - Ain Tuzend 10,000 - Shi'tuzend 100,000 - Shi'shi'tuzend 1,000,000 - Ain millon Et Cetera Adverbs Adverbs describe in what way a verb does something. Many a derived from a verb by adding the suffix -liḫ or -lyḫ, depending on what comes before the suffix. In Vethirankii, adverbs are delined according to gender and case. The words "ji (yes)" and "ni (no)" are adjectives. The following are the rules for adding an adverb suffix: 'Examples' Gŭzlyḫ - Beautifully, comes from the verb "guza", which means "to be beautiful". Pursd'ðaliḫ - Stunningly, comes from the verb "Pursd'ða, which means "to stun". Adpositions Adpositions tell the location of a noun. The Locative case is used in concordance with an adposition on both the subject and direct or indirect object to show the subject or object is being modified by the adposition. In Vethirankii, the preposition comes before the noun. Postpositions come after the noun. Most adpositions are prepositions. A few examples of adpositions in sentences follow and are highlighted. An adposition is subgrouped by whether it comes before or after the object of the transitive verb. Preposition: "Khunj jukz '''d'jel '''Kputnjek." "The dog is '''on' the table" Postposition: "Tĭ genzest sturlu ĭ'''" "(You) go '''in the store." Articles Articles are declined according to gender and the noun's case, there are no indefinate articles. Conjunctions are not their own part of speech, but are called Conjunctive Articles. Also Interjections are articles called Interjective Articles. Conjunctive Articles Conjunctive articles are not declined in any sense. They act the same as English conjunctions connecting two parts of a sentence. Interjective Articles Interjective articles are the same as English interjections, and are not declined in any sense. Usually any word or words spoken in a surprised manner can be classified as interjective articles. Example text We hold these Truths to be self-evident that all Men are created equal... Mis hedh ăch kpisci selstskŏðerd, vis manciu kriadh jukz echðelciu... Category:Languages Category:Germanic conlangs Category:Slavic conlangs